5 Minutes Flexibility and Stretching Home Workout

Here at gymguider, we hear people in the gym discussing and asking the same question all the time, “Do I need to stretch?” In answer to this, yes, stretching is important. You should stretch before any form of physical activity and also after. It doesn’t need to be long and it doesn’t need to be boring!

So why stretch? What’s the purpose? Listed below are just a few of the major benefits that stretching and increasing flexibility provide:

1. Prevent injury and relieve pain. By stretching you increase your full range of motion. This takes and pressure off of and away from your joints, doing this allows a steady flow of movement during exercises. This results in helping to prevent injury and any pain that can be incurred with any lifestyle.

2. Circulation improvement. When you stretch you improve the circulation and increase blood flow to the muscles. This helps by removing waste byproducts in muscle tissue allowing your body to recover faster.

3. It is a great way to relieve stress. When you become anxious or worried and even run down and fatigued, it will place strain on your body. By performing stretches you allow the tension to unwind and relieve any stress felt in the body.

Understanding muscle tissue and nervous system control:

When you perform a stretch, the muscle fibres and tendons elongate.

Constantly stretching will not create a sustained lengthening of the muscles or fibres. This is because the muscle tissue attaches at fixed points in the bone, meaning it is not possible for the entire muscle complex to become permanently longer. Also it is not beneficial to allow the muscle to become permanently stretched out, as this decreases in elasticity.

This is because of the nervous system, nerve endings are dispersed throughout the muscle and tendon. If a stretch doesn’t feel comfortable for the muscle, the nerves will register pain and create resistance.

But by repeating poses and stretches, you are retraining the nervous system to allow the movement at deeper levels of a stretch, also known as stretch tolerance.

After a while you will notice passive stretches may not be the most effective way of increasing flexibility. Trying proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), where you extend your muscles and then try to contract them from a lengthened position, could be a great way to control your nervous system and gain better momentum.

Taking all what has been mentioned above, why not try this 5-minute cool-down, your muscles will already be warmed up from training and you can get a feel for new movements.